Saturday, 9 February 2013

Beggaring Belief

Prominent US
economist, Robert Reich, is the star of a new film - Inequality for All - which promotes his long-held and convincingly
argued view that capitalism and, ultimately, democracy are doomed unless they
undergo fundamental change. He quotes many statistics, among them this one: 50%
of the wealth of the U.S. is now owned by just 400 individuals. He seeks to
demonstrate how this grotesquely unequal wealth distribution has, among other
things, wiped out a key engine of economic growth - the purchasing power of the
middle classes. Furthermore, the situation he describes is a repeat of that
which pertained in 1928, just prior to the great depression of the 1930’s, so
there are no prizes for guessing what is about to happen. And there is no
reason to be smug, for the U.K. is following the same pattern.

But surely
we have all learned to be sceptical of statistics? Successful academics, politicians
and shareholders have always been able to interpret them favourably in support of
their cases and, back in 2008, the credit-rating agencies famously manipulated them
to reassure markets that the banks were in good shape. A sensible precaution against such misinterpretation
is to test all statistics against common-sense in the form of everyday
observations and anecdotes. For example, a nifty indicator of the level of
economic activity in a given period is the corresponding number of white vans
sold. We may not have direct access to actual sales figures but it is plain to
see the vans on our roads. Back in the
heady days of easy credit and (unsustainable) growth it seemed that every other
vehicle was a white van, speeding aggressively towards the next opportunity,
its occupants wild-eyed with urgency and the prospect of well-paid work. Nowadays
the iconic Ford Transit plant near Southampton is closed down and vans are
becoming fewer, dirtier, more bashed-up and recycled; their occupants
hollow-eyed, listless and disillusioned.

There is
talk of realigning the wealth imbalance: even within that bastion of capitalism,
the English Football Premier League, a mutual agreement to limit the amount of
money allocated to players is imminent. But this could be a hollow gesture if,
as one pundit believes, the star players will continue to receive high fees
while savings will be made by cutting the pay of their less talented team-mates.
Meanwhile city traders and bankers insist that they must have bonuses because high
wages alone are not sufficient to get them out of bed. And so the system which
brought economic calamity remains fundamentally in place.

Walking
around the city - past boarded-up shops, cut-price drinking joints,
pawn-brokers, neglected civic buildings and facilities - I have noticed how
easy it is to become lulled incrementally into acceptance of the aggregating symptoms
of economic malaise. I have also noticed an increase in the number of beggars
on the streets. Over the years I have become inured to their pleas for money
because frequent rumours of fraudulent or professional beggars have made me
sceptical of their destitution and wary of being tricked into charitable acts.
But something happened this week which made me stop and think again about
beggars.

There are
different types: aggressive, passive, rude, polite, drunk, sober, dishevelled,
tidy, male, female, with dog, without dog, physically able and physically
disabled. Many of them ply the same streets as the buskers, mime-artists and
performers - to whom I might donate (depending on merit). But I came across a
beggar sitting on the pavement, his back against a wall, his head held down and
a sign in his hand informing everyone that he was hungry. His sober clothing,
respectable middle-aged appearance and abject look of misery implied that he
was recently impoverished. Something made me put my hand in my pocket and drop coins
into his hat. Was I persuaded by the statistic that most middle-class households
are only three pay-cheques away from destitution? Or had I, perhaps, just
witnessed a new and powerful phenomenon: begging as street-performance?